Tips for Shopping for a Quality Sofa

Know What to Look for When You Buy a Sofa

A sofa is likely one of the ten biggest purchases you will make in your life. In addition, you will likely only buy a handful of them during that same span. So doesn’t it make sense that you would want to get the best quality possible for your dollar? It seems a lot of people do not know how to shop for a quality sofa, or they simply think that you get what you pay for. That is not always true, and if you know what to look for in quality you will know what is worth your hard earned dollars and certainly what is not.

Measure

When shopping for a quality sofa, there is one thing you should check before you even get into a quality check. As you approach a floor model that looks good to you, before you do anything else, make sure it will fit in your home. That doesn’t necessarily have to do with the quality of the sofa, but it will influence whether or not you are wasting your time looking at it. Measure your room, measure your space, and then check the measurements on the sofa before you do anything else.

The Sofa Frame

Once you know the sofa will fit, it is time to decide if it is a well made sofa. The most important factor is going to be the frame. The frame is the wooden “skeleton” of the sofa. You want to first make sure that it is made of a hardwood. Oak and alder are common frame woods and are both fine. This should probably even be the first question you ask to a sales person when you are shopping for a quality sofa: what is the frame made of? Once you confirm that the frame is made from a hardwood, find out if it is kiln dried. A quality sofa should have a kiln dried hardwood frame. The drying keeps the wood from warping or cracking during seasonal changes as well as changes in the humidity.

In addition, the wood should be thick and heavy. To check this yourself, you can reach under the front of most sofas and feel the front of the frame. Make sure that this area is at least 1” thick, but preferably about 1-1/4” thick. If everything checks out, then you have found a quality sofa frame.

The Spring System

A Comfortable Sofa For Your Home!

A Comfortable Sofa For Your Home!

By Mike Yeager

A soft, plush sofa can be so inviting...even if you're visiting in someone else's home. Sofas can really make a home comfortable and relaxing. Sofas come in a variety of styles such as sectional sofas, leather sofas and sleeper sofas. One of the first things both you and your guests will notice, each time they come into your home, is how comfortable and relaxing the furniture looks. Well chosen sofas will help to give your home furnishings the elegance and style you want.

Sofas are generally referred to as stuffed, padded, and spring-cushioned furniture. Sofas are also defined by the decorative materials and fabrics that cover them. The first furniture upholstery was probably leather, stretched on without padding. Italian Renaissance chairs were cushioned with leather, velvet, or embroidery; the French made ornate chairs covered with tapestries and embroideries; England developed upholstery in Elizabethan and Jacobean reigns. The use of springs is comparatively modern. Hair, fiber, flock, foam rubber, down, and kapok are used for padding in modern upholstery, and woven fabrics, plastics, leather, and synthetic leather serve as coverings.

There are thousands and thousands of sofas, sectional sofas and other home furnishings to choose from over the internet. Choose from only the best sofas representatives who offer quality, elegance, quick delivery to your home and, of course, great prices!

Tips for Shopping for a Quality Recliner

Shopping for furniture is not exactly routine. Aside from a home, there are few things you buy with less frequency. When you add in the factor of moving parts, shopping for reclining furniture can be that much more intimidating. Your best bet is to know a little bit about reclining furniture going into the process. To help you go onto that furniture show-floor properly prepared, here are some tips for shopping for a quality recliner.

1) Look for a Quality Frame

Whether you are buying a recliner, a reclining sofa, or a simple loveseat with no reclining mechanism, the quality of the piece of furniture starts with a quality frame. In furniture, the frame is the skeleton, and you want one that is strong and supportive.

Start by talking to the sales person. Ask what the frame is made of. What you should be looking, or listening for in this case, is a hardwood. Alder is a common hardwood frame, but Oak or even any of several Asian hardwoods (parawood or rubberwood for example) will work.

Next, ask to make sure that the wood is kiln dried. This is especially important with imported pieces of furniture. Many a retailer can tell stories of Brazilian or Asian furniture pieces cracking in the warehouse because the wood dries after coming from humid weather.

Also, ask about the frame warranty. Many manufacturers will offer lifetime warranty on the frame and most will offer at least 10 years.

Finally, reach under the front of the recliner you are looking at. Grab the front piece of the frame to get an idea of how thick it is. Anything over an inch is fantastic, but just remember that the thicker it is the stronger it is.

2) Test the Mechanism

If you are looking at recliners or any other type of reclining furniture, the mechanism is of the highest importance. As the part of the furniture that is going to move, it will also get the most wear. Test it out. Recline it and close it several times. Additionally, ask to see what it looks like. The sales person should be able to tilt the piece back and let you see the way it is fastened to the frame of the recliner.

Friday, 1 January 2010

Families plump for leather sofas as cushion against recession

Lucy Alexander

If you associate leather sofas with the taste-free bachelor pad, the fusty gentlemen’s club or a suburban branch of All Bar One, think again. From high-end homes to the high street, the leather sofa is now the hottest trend in interiors.

Leather is the favoured material of the Candy brothers, who design the most expensive new homes in London, and of shoppers in the less rarefied atmosphere of the John Lewis upholstery department, where sales of leather sofas have jumped by 87 per cent in a year. Land of Leather is dead (who will fill those Christmas advertising slots?); long live the leather sofa!

They are everywhere, from David Cameron’s office to Simon Cowell’s X Factor dressing room. Scarlett Johansson is draped over a glossy red one in the winter campaign for Mango.

Ronnie Campbell, Labour MP for Blyth Valley, claimed £6,000 of taxpayers’ money for furniture, including a “leather sofa and pouffe” (he is paying it back). You should have gone to Ikea, Ronnie, where leather sofas start at £349.

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“Leather is very strong right now,” says Dan Cooper, upholstery buyer for John Lewis, which sells 50 different leather sofas, starting from £499 for the very cool Art Deco Romeo (NB trend fans: Art Deco is also huge for this year). “This is a real trend, because these are established sofas; it’s not just because we’ve launched something new. This is a very big increase. Last week leather sofas accounted for 52 per cent of all upholstery sales.”

Leather sofas are also the biggest sellers at Tesco and Marks & Spencer. B&Q and Laura Ashley are expanding their leather or faux-leather sofa ranges in 2010 to cope with demand. Sally Bendelow, head of home design at M&S, explains: “Leather is on trend. Champagne or white is more modern than black.”

M&S has sold 70,000 brown leather Abbey sofas over the past decade. So why leather and why now? Cooper attributes the trend to the perception of leather furniture as an investment purchase and the attraction that holds to the post-recession mindset.

“People have held off buying sofas for 18 months because of the economic situation. Now they can see light at the end of the tunnel. But the difference is that they now want to invest in decent furniture that will last, rather than throwaway stuff — the recovery has been strongest in premium leather sofas.”

The British interior designer Tara Bernerd, however, has a word of warning for anyone rushing out to buy one. “Never underestimate the impact a black leather sofa will have in a room. If you’re thinking of black, think twice.” She recommends the Chester by Amanda Levete for Established and Sons, “a witty modern take on the classic Chesterfield”, and the Happy by Antonio Citterio, available at Flexform. “I’d get it in white — people think white leather is flash or a little bit Blofeld, but it is really very edgy.”

Suite and sour

Hot

• Red, white or champagne dyes are a modern twist

• Vintage or battered brown leather

• Art Deco or reissued Modernist design classics from Habitat or the Conran shop

Not

• The matching three-piece suite •Shiny, cheap black leather or faux leather (sweaty and redolent of the warehouse new year sale)

• Sectional corner sofas (1980s playboy)

• Anything reclining (smacks of Joey from Friends in his tight white turtleneck phase)
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Six Tips for Buying the Right Leather Furniture for You

There's nothing like the feeling of sinking into a plush leather sofa or kicking up your feet on a leather recliner. Once you experience the rich color and luxurious texture of real leather furniture, it's tough to go back to anything else.

And with good reason: Leather is the strongest upholstery material known to man, and its natural strength makes it much more difficult to tear, puncture, burn or melt than fabrics or vinyls. Leather also constantly adjusts to its environment, so it won't become hot and sticky in the summer or cold in the winter. This natural product also breathes and ventilates, wicking away body heat, and ages gracefully.

But before you start planning on giving your home the posh, natural look of leather, think carefully as you select your furniture. Whether you're dreaming of a sectional grouping or just a chair, leather furniture is an investment that requires you to give it the proper treatment it deserves.

So before you splurge, consider these basic tips.

1. Think Second Best

When you're shopping for leather furniture, it's easy to think that the highest-grade, most expensive leather equates to the best option. But this rule isn't accurate. For many consumers, the middle grade is the option of choice, as it can better withstand normal wear and tear while looking attractive.

2. Don't Expect Perfection

Oh, those scars, those veins, those stretch marks! Just like humans aren't all airbrushed perfection, neither are the cows used for leather furniture. But these characteristics aren't flaws, but rather are the qualities that give leather furniture its distinctive, natural appeal. If you look very closely, there's a slight chance you might even spot a brand, which is usually hidden in an out-of-the-way place.

3. Order Big

hose characteristics and differences in texture can be an issue if you're planning on purchasing more than one piece. Since leather is a natural product, it's difficult to predict whether your furniture's color and texture will match perfectly if you order several items over a longer period of time instead of all at once. This is especially important to consider with sectional pieces or matching ottomans. It can be a little easier on the pocketbook to build your leather furniture collection one piece at a time, but understand that this method might affect the overall look of a room.

4. Avoid Cat Scratch Fever

If there's anyone who should think carefully about their decision to purchase leather furniture, it should be pet owners. Pets do a number on leather furniture with their claws, so keep this in mind when deciding where your furniture will be safest in your home. Warranties on leather furniture don't cover animal damage, either. And manufacturers actually do extensive testing on materials, so forget about pulling one over on them by passing off Fluffy's scratches as a mysterious defect.

5. Sun Protection is a Factor

Just like you, leather furniture doesn't age well if it's exposed to the sun. So while you're mentally arranging a room around that leather sofa, look at whether it will be soaking up direct sunlight for extended periods. If so, search for alternate places to put it before you even bring it home, or consider another type of furniture.

6. Maintenance Matters

As you look at different leather options, imagine how much time you ideally want to spend on upkeep. Most varieties on the market only require frequent light dusting and the occasional wiping with a warm and slightly damp clean cloth. Take note if you find nubuck appealing, however: This higher-grade variety requires you to use a suede brush.

Now that you're enlightened about nature's most beautiful material, get ready to live the leather lifestyle. With these simple tips, you'll be lounging on luxurious, long-lasting leather in no time.